Intrusive Passive Optical Tapping Device

Ismel Dominguez,Ignacio Del Villar,Ignacio R Matias,Omar Fuentes,Jesus M Corres,Jorge Montoya-Cardona,Nelson D Gomez-Cardona

doi:10.1109/access.2021.3060588

Abstract

Passive optical tapping can be implemented by stacking multiple layers of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), which is used as planar waveguides for the transmission and capturing of light. Once the main waveguide is installed in the communications system, each additional stacked waveguide represents an optical sniffer where it is possible to intercept the data from an input optical fibre, allowing the information to also flow to the output fibre unnoticeably from the point of view of the transmitter. The waveguides can be stacked or removed, making it a dynamic device that overcomes the limitations of previous designs, and the optical sniffer shows fixed implementation. In addition, it is demonstrated that PDMS is a versatile material that permits the control of the coupling of light among the waveguides, depending on its properties, and the thickness of each waveguide is also critical for the performance of the device. Furthermore, the experimental results are supported with a theoretical analysis that permits better understanding of the performance of the device, whose use can be extended to other applications, such as a passive optical hub or a signal combiner/splitter.

Highlights

Photonics play an increasingly important role in our world.developing multipurpose platforms that allow the connection of the growing number of communication lines that are required in a society where all equipment must be interconnected is vital and is very much in line with the Internet of Things (IoT) or industry 4.0
The design of the optical tapping device was presented along with the two configurations used in this work: one for the analysis of the insertion losses and the other for testing the performance of the device in optical communications
Evaluation of the insertion losses The first experiment was performed to determine the insertion losses of the optical tapping device represented in Fig. 1a, where three PDMS waveguides are stacked: waveguides A, B, and C

Summary

Introduction

Photonics play an increasingly important role in our world.developing multipurpose platforms that allow the connection of the growing number of communication lines that are required in a society where all equipment must be interconnected is vital and is very much in line with the Internet of Things (IoT) or industry 4.0. The tapping devices must facilitate the coupling of light to the PDMS waveguide and next to the optical fibres located at the output end of the device.

Results

Conclusion